I feel the need to go off about things once in a while. If you feel this same need and end up here, I hope it helps.

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Failure Isn't An Option

When it is life and death, people over come incredible odds to be the survivor. They somehow find inner strength that no one would know was there. When they realize the desperation of their struggle, they throw their full selves at it. 100% of who they are deals with what ever the issue. When failure isn't an option, we rise above and succeed.

I read some poll that says only 42% of America is committed to winning in Iraq. We were in luck because 53% think it is still winnable with significant changes. Funny thing was, no one had a list of the changes that this group would suggest. We got our new secretary of defense flying all over the planet looking for this answer. How can so many Monday morning quarterbacks be so assured that we can win without submitting a plan?

We have done nothing to change the educational outlook of the Iraqi children for example. We rewrote the text books in Japan and changed the entire educational system. The only real change offered in Iraq, girls can now attend. How do we expect people of different character to emerge when we offer no differences to build on. You would think that we here in the US would have a better grasp of how to win minds through education. Children who are only now entering Iraqi high school will be leaders and decision makers for their communities in less then ten years. I submit to you that we have already allowed three years to pass with no substantiate change in personal outlook for the average Iraqi. The insurgents and terrorists know how important this is. They are blowing up schools and killing teachers hoping that the masses will not be reached.

MacArthur recognized the need for a national security force but he also knew that waiting before moving forward would allow for this to be successful. They demanded and collected all small arms and destroyed them. They focused on breaking the ties of lords and corrupt officials. This separation period allowed for true loyalty to be returned to the military when it was re-established. They did not have to worry about secondary loyalties like we see with various groups in Iraq.

I started this by talking about true commitment and what it takes to get a job done. I also pointed out how poor Iraq is polling. Total commitment and these poll numbers don't speak well of how we are dealing with Iraq. We failed to learn the lessons that MacArthur taught us. Now our lack of commitment may force us to pay a far greater price. Let me suggest to you that the answer we seek is already written in history. All we need is the guts and fortitude to follow the lesson plan well learned sixty years ago.

3 Comments:

Mudkitty - escalation may not be the answer. The point to my writing is how much of history and its lessons have been lost in such a short time. Look at the citations I point to. Escalation is not necessarily the answer. MacArthur new how to balance force and diplomacy.